Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
Liverpool suffered their eighth defeat in eleven Premiership visits to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, and in doing so saw their hopes of competing in next season's Champions League ended.
With Didi Hamann ruled out of the game shortly before the team was announced, Salif Diao took his place in the starting line up, but there were no other surprise inclusions by Houllier.
Liverpool started the game well, with Michael Owen forcing Carlo Cudicini into a near post save after only 58 seconds of action, though the Italian 'keeper was to find himself with a little less to do than in the previous meeting between the sides at Stamford Bridge, when he was named man of the match, despite a 4-0 scoreline in Chelsea's favour.
Steven Gerrard scuffed a shot wide from a free kick just outside the box, and it was only a minute later that Sami Hyypia gave the Reds' a deserved early lead when he arrived at the far post to send a header past Cudicini, from a well delivered free kick by Murphy.
But Liverpool's lead lasted little over a minute, as Marcel Desailly put Chelsea level with a similar goal to that scored by Hyypia, when he got in front of Salif Diao to win a header in the box, and send the ball past Dudek and into the net via the inside of the post.
Chelsea improved more and more as the half wore on, and Eidur Gudjohnsson should have done better with a shot from just outside the area after just over 20 minutes of the game, but the Icelandic forward failed to test Dudek as he sent the ball high and wide.
However, Jesper Gronkjaer had more success with his effort on goal six minutes later when, after brushing aside a weak challenge by Riise, he curled a shot from the corner of the 18 yards box into the far corner of the goal, leaving Dudek with no chance and putting Chelsea firmly in the driving seat in the race to claim the all important 4th place in the Premiership.
Liverpool now needed to score at least twice, but were able to create few chances in the final disappointing hour of a game which had started so well. Michael Owen side-footed well over the bar early into the second half, while Gerrard forced Cudicini into a good save from a fierce long range drive.
It was Chelsea who looked more likely to add to the scoreline though, and an excellent save by Jerzy Dudek was required to keep out a late shot by Carlton Cole with the Polish 'keeper needing to get a hand to the shot to tip the ball onto the inside of the post.
Milan Baros looked to have given Liverpool real hope of turning the game around after 76 minutes when he had the ball in the Chelsea net after an awful blunder by Cudicini, but the linesman's flag was quickly raised, with replays showing that the ball had touched Baros' hand just prior to him shooting.
Liverpool's misery was complete two minutes into injury time, with Steven Gerrard picking up his second yellow card of the match for a poorly timed challenge on Graeme Le Saux.
It was a disappointing end to what has been a largely disappointing season for Liverpool, who finish in fifth place, their lowest for four years and one or two changes will be needed if Liverpool are to be back challenging for the title next season.
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